> > If he comes back, he'll only do this more, because now you've shown him that this stuff gets to you. It's best to ignore losers like him, in my experience. When they realise that no one cares about their pathetic efforts, they leave the site completley, go play Yoshi64 and pout.
>
> I usually think so too. The thing that gets to me, though, about such people is that they don't seem to understand *what* aspect of their behaviour we find irritating and pathetic. People who come into the chatroom spouting toddler-level abuse, take note: It's just the fact that these people are so brainless, unoriginal and BORING that makes them a pain. I think they'd like to be considered velociraptors but they're more like mosquitoes...

I'm inclined to agree with Wormwood's policy of ignoring trolls or flamebaits. There's no point in telling a troll that he is immature, cowardly, and insecure; he already knows what he is, and is counting on your response to flame him. So generally, just ignore them. Mr. J of 192.139.230.250 has played the fool attempting to skate uphill, falsely reliant on his "complete" anonymity (Nope :-) Recently, his attacks were specifically targeted; but even so, I believe even trolls should have a chance to fully realize the future consequences of their actions.

There's a scenario in Orson Scott Card's recent novel "Heartfire", which deals with this very same problem... Someone who is himself alienated will always try to rationalize why he lashes out and attacks others. I hope Card doesn't mind if I quote at length, because he says it so much better than I can:

/ / / / / / / "I have to study life in all its manifestations," Balzac said.
/ / / / / / / "Perhaps that is true," said Margaret. "But if you sample all the wickedness of the world, and commit every betrayal and every harm, then you will not be able to sample the higher joys, for you will not be strong enough -- or decent enough for the company of good people, which is one of the greatest joys of all."
/ / / / / / / "If they cannot forgive me my foibles, then they are not such good people, no?" Balzac smiled as if he had played the last ace in the deck.
/ / / / / / / "But they do forgive you your foibles! They would welcome your company, too. But if you joined them, you would not understand what they were talking about. You would be an outsider, not because of any act of theirs, but because you have not passed along the road that teaches you to be one of them. You will feel like an exile from the beautiful garden, but it will be you who exiled yourself. And yet you will blame *them*, and call them judgmental and unforgiving, even as it is your own pain and bitter memory that condemns you, your own ignorance of virtue that makes you a stranger in the land that should have been your home."


Wolf "Tip of the hat to Howard :-)" spirit